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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

This Pecan Tart was the second dessert I made for the Bar Mitzvah. When asked for a specific request, the response I received was pecan pie. Immediately, I thought of Rose's Pie and Pastry Bible and sure enough she had a recipe for pecan pie in a tart form. Far more elegant, in my opinion. Going with Rose was a no-brainer, and I was pretty sure that it would be successful... until I had a few mishaps along the way. For starters, I ignored Rose's instructions to chill the panned tart dough before baking. Lesson learned- never ignore Rose. My tart shell shrunk while baking, making it unable to house all the liquid. Which I ignored as well, and was rewarded with major leakage between the sides of the shell and the pan, which then leaked to the baking pan that held the whole mess. And while I dutifully strained the cooked filling (a must by the way to get rid of some unwanted thickened stuff!), I forgot to add the vanilla afterwards. I was worried about all of this when it came out of the oven. There was lots of gelled filling to scrape off from the bottom of the pan, the baking pan it was set on, the crust itself. It was not pretty. But I soldiered on. I glazed with the chocolate lace glazed and called it a pretty tart. Everyone complimented it as well, totally unaware of the misfortunes that went along with making it. Alas, I needn't have worried because everyone who tasted it pronounced it delicious. In fact, the first word out of someone's mouth was "Yum." Or was it, "Wow"? I don't remember but the bottom line is you can never go wrong with Rose and even if you have several mishaps along the way, no one need be the wiser, and your product can still be beautiful and delicious.

Gently lift it up and place it in a 9 1/2 inch tart pan, pressing down on the edges to cut off the excess dough. Refrigerate for at least an hour. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!!
Preheat the oven to 425. Place the tart shell on a baking sheet. Place a piece of parchment over the dough and place pie weights or dried beans on that. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and beans and prick the dough to prevent inflation. Bake an additional seven to ten minutes. Remove from the oven. Turn the heat down to 350.

Place all of the filling ingredients, except for the pecans and vanilla, into a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until a thermometer registers 160 and the mixture just begins to thicken slightly.

Strain into a bowl. Add the vanilla.

Arrange the pecans decoratively in the pan.

Pour the filling over the nuts.

Bake for 20 minutes until the filling is puffed and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 45 minutes.
To make the glaze, melt together the chocolate and cream. Place in a zip top sandwich bag and cut off the top.

Drizzle in a decorative pattern over the cooled tart. When the glaze has totally set, wrap the tart in plastic wrap until ready to serve.